Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy suffer serious injuries, India forced to add CSK and KKR stars to T20I squad
Team India has suffered several injuries ahead of the second T20I against England. Just hours before kick-off at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the Men in Blue lost the services of their middle-order batsman Rinku Singh and all-rounder Nitish Reddy.
BCCI has confirmed that Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the entire series due to a side strain. The highly rated all-rounder sustained the injury during a training session in Chennai on Friday (January 24). Reddy will now go to the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru for further management.
On the other hand, Rinku Singh has been dropped for the next two T20Is due to past issues. The left-handed batsman suffered a lower back spasm while playing in the first T20I earlier this week and will miss the second and third T20Is.
BCCI gave a promising update on the batsman, stating, “He is progressing well and is being closely monitored by BCCI’s medical team. He has been ruled out of Games 2 and 3 of the ongoing 5-match T20I series.”
Also read: Arshdeep Singh beat Travis Head to win the ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year 2024 award.
Indian Name Swap for Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rinku Singh:
Both Reddy and Rinku played their first T20I at Eden Gardens this week. However, none of them got a chance to play in the game as India registered a comfortable 7-wicket win. Given that both players are out of the machine, the selection committee has appointed their replacements.
All-rounders Shivam Dube and Ramandeep Singh have been added to the squad. Dube was part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup last year and last played a T20I during the series in Sri Lanka last July.
On the other hand, Ramandeep made his T20I debut during the series in South Africa last November. The all-rounder played two games in that four-match series.
Meanwhile, India will look to take a 2-0 lead in the series when they take on England in the second T20I on Saturday. The momentum is with the hosts after their brilliant 7-wicket win in the first series. India bowled out England by just 132 runs before chasing down the total inside 13 overs.
Updated India squad for T20I series against England:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Axar Patel (VC), Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shivam Dube, Ramandeep Singh.
